Not too bad turning 55!

I was born on January 29, 1957,

in Bakersfield, California.

Sometimes I have to use a 

calculator to remember how old

I'm getting to be....

...apparently my Mom does too! ;-)

Last night, George and I went

out to the movies to see

The Descendants.

It was ok..

even though I like George Clooney..

he seems to play the same

type of role all the time.

 

Afterwards, we went to

Agolinos 

for a nice dinner.

I had Sacchettoni 

with broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes

in a cream sauce. Yum!

George had baked penne with meat sauce.

We ended the meal with

a piece of cheesecake.

On the way home we 

stopped at the Blockbuster kiosk

and rented 

'The Help'

and

'Ides of March'

(oh yeah, another typical 

George Clooney movie).

The Help was terrific..

make sure you have lots of tissues.

It's been a nice birthday..

my Mom bought me 

a gift card to a spa I love..

Woodhouse Spa

for a day of pampering!

I can't wait to use it!

4 months of RV living

What a beautiful day!

It's sunny, blue skies, 

and mild temps.

Tomorrow is my birthday,

going to be 55..

so I can order off the 

senior menu if I want ;-)

George is taking me

to the movies,

we're going to go see

The Descendants.

I'll let you know how it is.

We're also going to our favorite

restaurant..Agolino's..

for a nice dinner.

This week marks 4 months

of living in the RV.

It's gone by fast!

We've done a few things

to make life a little easier,

and I thought I'd share it with you.

We put a rack over the door

in the bathroom to hold our

towels..

and we use those 3M removable

hooks for everything on the walls.

We had a couple of these ribbon

picture holders..

...and put one in the bedroom, 

and one in the hall area.

A couple of plastic drawer units

for storage of bathroom items,

goes in the hall closet.

For now we have our winter

boots there, as well

as hanging our coats

in between the drawer units 

and our washer/dryer.

We bought a shoe 

caddy and hung it in our front closet,

for our outside shoes,

winter gloves,

and small things.

George also hung some

of those handy 3M hooks

for the keys.

The wire shelves that you

can buy at WalMart are

great for maximizing the space

in the tall cabinets..

Bill paying things, and laptop.

Printer and manuals.

Kitchen cabinet

We purchased a basket from

Lowe's that has dividers in it.

It is terrific between our two

recliners for remotes,

magazines, and Kindles.

Our refrigerator and freezer

have been fine for storage.

We added another shelf in

the freezer, and a couple

more door bins.

So far, things are working fine!

George has the basement area

the way he wants it too.

I'm sure when we are traveling,

there will be more modifications

to suit us.

Anything that you have in your rig

that you can't live without?

Winter has arrived

Woke up to 6" of snow 

this morning..

George grumbled about shoveling,

the plow was on the John Deere

that was under 6' of water in September.

It is quite pretty,

as long as you are looking 

out the back window.

 

The river has ice floating in it!

 After vacuuming, dusting, and 

scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom,

I started the wash, while

George went for propane.

We have gone through

5 - 30# tanks since Jan. 1

Still holding steady :)

We decided to get out

and went to Logan's steakhouse

for a beer, peanuts, and a burger.

It was nice to get out 

and talk about RV things :)

We are starting to research

getting a dish for satellite TV.

We almost have it nailed down :)

They lied!

Ok, so a couple things..

George said the propane tanks

are not 35#, but 30#.

The tank that he was going to get

was 100#, not 90#.

Oh, and the temperature

last night got down to 9,

not 12.

Even our little squirrel buddy

was cold:

He was covering his head

yesterday from the constant

flurries in the air.

Last night as we watched

the football games,

we talked about our

checklist.

• complete buyout of flooded property
• pay off truck & RV loans
• sign George up for SS (7/14 will be 62!)
• turn in resignation at Laurie's job
• secure health insurance, or sign up for COBRA
• put up our resume & find workkamp job within first 3 months
• change residency to South Dakota
• sell Laurie's car
• purge more items out of RV (don't need work clothes!)
• buy Pressure Pro system & GPS (Rand Mcnally truckers)
• check out tires on truck & change if needed
• buy a satellite TV system 
• get physicals & final checkups
• get Harvey weighed
• get senior park pass

not necessarily in that order!!
 
We've already done the following:

• joined Passport America
• joined Good Sam club
• opened ING checking account
• signed up for roadside assistance with Good Sam
• signed up for an RV fuel card with Flying J/Pilot

I'm sure there are other things for both lists.
It has been a 3 year process, lots of research,
prayer, and searching.

We are getting excited to explore the country,
and see family & friends.

So this is January!

Another lazy weekend for us.

Last weekend it was nice

enough for a walk.

This morning, not so much!

Not much snow, thank goodness, 

but frigid temps..right now it's 21 degrees,

and tonight it's supposed to hit a low of 12!

We're experimenting a bit with our heat.

We used electric only last month (temps were above average)

and our electric bill is $284.64!

This was using space heaters and

the fireplace only! Yikes!

This month we're using propane only.

We were going to have the gas 

company deliver a 90# tank

for the winter. George decided instead

to use 4 35# tanks. Two came with 

the RV, and two he's borrowing.

The gas company will fill each one for $20

We have the thermostat set at 65,

so we'll see.

I keep thinking that this is still cheaper 

than what I paid to heat my drafty victorian!

With January half over, and the temps

above average, maybe it will be better.

Stay tuned :-)

A couple changes too..

we decided to change our map on

the sidebar to reflect places

that the RV has been :-)

So far Harvey's only been right here in PA.

Sometime today we're going to
sit down and get our list going
of what's left to do.

That countdown on the right
is going fast!!

This is January?

We can't believe how nice

the weather has been

so far this winter.

La Nina is helping 

that along.

 

Today, while George 

went to fill the propane tanks,

I did my Wii workout, 

then headed off for a pedicure.

After lunch, we took a

ride across the river

to the Forty Fort airport.

Next to it is the levee,

which we've ridden before

on our bikes.

This time, we just took a nice walk.

The river is very low..

We didn't see any birds today..

but we did see other flying things..

We had a great 2 mile walk

along the levee.

Since there are no leaves 

on the trees, we were

able to see Harvey across the river.

George made fun of me

walking in flip flops in January..

Hey, I'll take this kind of 

weather in the winter anytime!

Not having to wear coats..

 

or scarves..

 ...works for us!

New Year's 2012

We hope everyone had

a terrific New Year's eve & day.

We did end up

staying up in time to 

watch the ball drop.

 Dick Clark sounded a bit better

  than last year, 

although he did look 

like he had a

spray on tan ;-)

Sunday we spent

hanging out, then

grocery shopping.

George did some things

outside, 

while I did another 

jammie day.

Today we cleaned up

Harvey..this is an

every other week chore

that lasts about 20 minutes.

We decided to get the Wii

out and play a few games too.

First it was bowling..

George always scores high!

Then it was on to frisbee..

with the cute little dog..

We had a great time!

I got back on my Wii balance board,

with a vow to get healthy 

before we hit the road.

More exercise, 

less eating,

and more fresh air!